Sat, 21 Feb 2009, 10:28 PM Dixon, Capps and Edwards Qualify No. 1

By Rick Green Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc. At 25th annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Larry Dixon, Ron Capps and Mike Edwards maintained the number one qualifying positions at the 25th annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals. Dixon driving the Alan Johnson Al-Anabi Racing dragster stayed number one with his time from Friday at 3.807 seconds at 313.95 mph. Capps qualified number one in his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T with his 4.023 seconds at 305.63 mph from Friday. Mike Edwards track record setting pass of 6.605 seconds at 208.52 mph from Friday held on to be the number one qualifier in Pro Stock.

Larry Dixon

Larry Dixon qualified number one for the 32nd time in his career, and the second time he has been number one here. The last time was 2002. Dixon had the quickest E.T. in both rounds today and commented that he was just lucky to drive this car, "Just look at today's first session. We ran 82 (3.828 seconds) and the next closest car was an 87 (3.873 seconds). While our team is still new, it was good to get four runs together. Dixon also said he was real happy for his crew chief to get his first pole. He also confirmed with Bob Frey that his crew chief, Jason McCulloch, and Jason's father Ed McCulloch (crew chief on Ron Capps' NAPA funny car) are the first son and father crew chiefs to tune cars to poles at the same event.

Tony Schumacher in his Army dragster qualified number two during the final session of qualifying with a 3.826-second pass at 314.46 mph. Antron Brown's Matco dragster run from Friday night of 3.830 seconds at 313.80 mph put him in the number three spot. Rookie Spencer Massey, in the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco dragster, qualified number four with a run of 3.847 seconds at 310.27 mph. Brandon Bernstein qualified number five with a 3.875 second pass at 308.07 mph, and he ran the fastest pass of the event during the final qualifying session in his Budweiser/Lucas dragster, at 316.38 mph.

Ron Capps

Ron Capps qualified number one for the first time since the Dallas race in 2005, and this is his eighth career number one. Capps said it was nice to get that number on Friday night, So we could test some things today. Ace (crew chief Ed McCulloch) and Ronnie (Thompson, assistant crew chief) and the NAPA guys were wanting to experiment with a couple of things for the second half of the track and it did what we wanted it to do. It ran 304 mph, which was great. We weren't shooting to run a low 4.0 again."

Mike Neff, driving the John Force Racing Ford Mustang, held on to the number two qualifying spot as he continues to tune the car while communicating with John Medlen, who is recovering in Indianapolis from a heart stent procedure earlier this week. John Force, in the Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang, moved up to the number three spot in the final qualifying session with a run of 4.069 seconds at 306.53 mph. Del Worsham and Robert Hight round out the top five in Funny Car.

Mike Edwards

Mike Edwards, in the Young Life/Penhall Pontiac GXP, qualified number one in Pro Stock for the first time since Sonoma last year. This is the seventh time Edwards has qualified number one in his career and the second time he has qualified number one here. Edwards said he has been working on his own engine program for just over a year, and they really made some strides in the engine shop over the winter. Edwards is working with Ron Krisher this year as Krisher is leasing Edwards engines, and Edwards said one of the ironies of the last time he qualified number one here in 2001 is, "I was leasing engines from Krisher."

Greg Anderson, in his Summit Racing Pontiac GXP, ran 6.610 seconds at 208.94 mph in the first session Saturday to qualify number two. Anderson had the quickest passes in both sessions on Saturday. Allen Johnson, in his Team Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus, moved up to third in the qualifying order Saturday with a pass of 6.621 seconds at 208.49 mph. Jeg Coughlin and Jason Line rounded out the top five.

Defending event champion V. Gaines failed to qualify in his Kendall Dodge Stratus by speed. He ran the same E.T. as number 16 qualifier Johnny Gray, 6.669 seconds, but a slower speed, 206.54 mph to 207.66 mph. This was the fourth time in Gaines career he failed to qualify based on speed.

In Lucas Oil action, qualifying was wrapped up and eliminations started with Todd Patterson qualifying number one in Competition Eliminator with a -0.711 seconds under the index pass of 7.649 seconds at 177.46 mph in his E/A 2008 Chevy Cobalt. Competition Eliminator completed one round of eliminations, with round two slated for right before pre-race ceremonies Sunday morning. Tibor Kadar qualified number one in Super Stock with a 1.288 seconds under the index pass of 9.412 seconds in his SS/GM 1992 Chevy Camaro. Super Stock completed two rounds of eliminations, cutting the field down to 15 cars. Steve Wann was number one qualifier in Stock, running 1.144 seconds under the index at 10.856 seconds in his E/S 1974 Dodge Dart. Stock completed two rounds of eliminations, leaving 19 competitors to race on Sunday. Thomas Bayer was the number one qualifier in Super Comp, running 8.901 seconds on a 8.90 index in round one. Super Comp also completed two rounds of eliminations, leaving 23 cars to race on Sunday. In Super Gas Lamar Swindoll was the closest to the 8.9 index in round one to qualify number one, with a dead-on 8.900 second pass. Two rounds of Super Gas were completed today, leaving 24 competitors to return on Sunday.

First-round pairings for professional eliminations Monday for the 25th annual Lucas Oil Slick Mist NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway, the second of 24 events in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Sunday. DNQs listed below pairings.

Top Fuel -- 1. Larry Dixon, 3.807 seconds, 315.71 mph vs. 16. Terry Haddock, 4.094, 287.78; 2. Tony Schumacher, 3.826, 315.27 vs. 15. Troy Buff, 3.974, 283.97; 3. Antron Brown, 3.830, 313.80 vs. 14. Del Cox Jr, 3.936, 306.46; 4. Spencer Massey, 3.847, 310.27 vs. 13. Mike Strasburg, 3.922, 310.48; 5. Brandon Bernstein, 3.875, 316.38 vs. 12. Joe Hartley, 3.913, 308.07; 6. Morgan Lucas, 3.879, 306.46 vs. 11. David Baca, 3.910, 305.77; 7. Shawn Langdon, 3.888, 307.93 vs. 10. Clay Millican, 3.907, 311.13; 8. Doug Kalitta, 3.897, 307.86 vs. 9. Cory McClenathan, 3.904, 311.63.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Steven Chrisman, 4.167, 280.49; 18. Steve Faria, 4.505, 222.14; 19. Rob Passey, 7.530, 81.82; 20. Arley Langlo, 15.695, 119.44.

Funny Car -- 1. Ron Capps, Dodge Charger, 4.023, 305.63 vs. 16. Jeff Arend, Toyota Solara, 4.196, 301.74; 2. Mike Neff, Ford Mustang, 4.050, 309.06 vs. 15. Gary Densham, Chevy Impala, 4.165, 296.50; 3. John Force, Mustang, 4.069, 306.53 vs. 14. Tim Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.148, 297.09; 4. Del Worsham, Solara, 4.072, 305.22 vs. 13. Cruz Pedregon, Solara, 4.135, 296.05; 5. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.077, 303.71 vs. 12. Ashley Force Hood, Mustang, 4.129, 301.40; 6. Tony Pedregon, Impala, 4.104, 295.72 vs. 11. Jack Beckman, Charger, 4.125, 301.40; 7. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.106, 301.94 vs. 10. Jerry Toliver, Chevy Monte Carlo, 4.122, 302.08; 8. Matt Hagan, Charger, 4.106, 300.20 vs. 9. Jim Head, Solara, 4.116, 299.06.
Did Not Qualify: 17. Bob Bode, 4.307, 285.05.

Pro Stock -- 1. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 6.605, 208.71 vs. 16. Johnny Gray, Dodge Stratus, 6.669, 207.66; 2. Greg Anderson, GXP, 6.610, 209.49 vs. 15. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.665, 208.07; 3. Allen Johnson, Stratus, 6.621, 208.68 vs. 14. David Beckley, Stratus, 6.663, 207.18; 4. Jeg Coughlin, Chevy Cobalt, 6.624, 208.33 vs. 13. Steve Spiess, Cobalt, 6.662, 206.89; 5. Jason Line, GXP, 6.638, 208.71 vs. 12. Tom Hammonds, Cobalt, 6.658, 207.59; 6. Kurt Johnson, Cobalt, 6.640, 208.01 vs. 11. Larry Morgan, Stratus, 6.654, 207.85; 7. Greg Stanfield, GXP, 6.643, 207.91 vs. 10. Jim Yates, GXP, 6.652, 207.72; 8. Rickie Jones, Stratus, 6.648, 207.34 vs. 9. Ron Krisher, Cobalt, 6.649, 208.20.
Did Not Qualify: 17. V. Gaines, 6.669, 206.89; 18. Bob Panella, 6.706, 206.16; 19. Gordie Rivera, 6.721, 204.94; 20. Jerry Haas, 6.733, 205.69; 21. Roger Brogdon, 6.754, 203.31; 22. Erica Enders, 6.800, 202.48.